Weight calls disappointing effort vs. Leafs 'a humbling loss'

Provided an opportunity to climb into a playoff spot, the New York Islanders laid an egg.

Visiting Toronto on Tuesday night, a win would have leapfrogged the Maple Leafs for the second wild-card position in the East, but it didn't go remotely close to plan for New York.

The Maple Leafs cruised to a 7-1 win, the worst result of Doug Weight's brief tenure as head coach, and the new bench boss was honest in his assessment of his club's performance.

"As much as it's just one loss, that's a humbling loss, that's a (butt) kicking, I'm sorry," Weight told Dave McCarthy of NHL.com. "They played a playoff game tonight; we played a hard game but we didn't play a playoff game. That's virtually what it was, right? We win, we're in the playoffs as far as statistically speaking."

The Islanders have taken off under Weight, holding an 8-3-2 record since he took over for Jack Capuano. However, Tuesday's loss was extra significant because New York's most realistic avenue to a playoff seed is via the wild-card route.

New York's next chance to work its way up the standings comes Thursday when they host their in-state rival Rangers.